The process of compressing an audio source, such as voice or music, and storing it digitally into a file is conventionally known. An encoder is conventionally employed to compress the audio file. A user connected to the Internet can download encoded compressed files, such as files in the MP3 format, run software to decode the file and listen to the audio source. The MP3 format is well known in the art and refers to Layer 3 audio files of the Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG) international standard for representation, compression, and decompression of motion pictures and associated audio on digital media. Conventionally, a decoder is employed to decode the encoded digital audio file.
A drawback of conventional methods is that compressed audio files do not include information and links to Internet documents that can be viewed during audio playback. Conventional methods require the listener of the decoded audio file to manually make any such links to Internet documents.
What is needed is the embedding of Internet links or other information at the proper time in the compressed audio file so that, upon decoding the audio file, a listener of the audio file could view information or be linked to a document, for example, an Internet document.